Semiconductor devices produce thermal energy when operating. Because the thermal energy may not be uniform, a thermal gradient may exist. As systems become smaller and semiconductor devices are more closely packed, which may result in mechanical coupling between devices. This tight mechanical coupling may result in induced thermal gradients between one and another of the semiconductor devices.
One technique for increasing system performance is to place one or more dies with in close physical proximity to reduce transmission length and other physical characteristics, for example, by stacking multiple memory dice on top of a processor or other logic die that may have a different thermal gradient than the memory. Also, interconnections between these dice may have thermal consequences that increase with the number of interconnections.
These unexpected thermal gradients may result in operating errors. For example, in a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), thermal gradients may result in inappropriate refresh frequencies and even data loss.